The door opened some time later and Epharis swept into the room, looking around and finding her lounging on the couch, her face pale and eyes hooded as she squeezed the pump, a small pile of packets on the table and Kai moving around her, his fingers touching her throat and wrists to feel the size of her veins.
She mumbled at the warmth of him and he gently took the pump from her limp fingers.
"That's enough, sweetheart," he said gently, carefully removing the needle from her arm and pressing down on the spot to help her blood clot.
Epharis moved into her field of vision and she looked at him sleepily.
"Are you planning to go somewhere?" he growled and she let out a slow sigh, knowing he had come to pick a fight.
Arms were gentle as they slipped around her and she found herself pulled into Kai's lap as he settled down in her seat.
He was so incredibly warm that she was unable to resist snuggling into his chest, her eyes heavy.
"Kill Varsas for Alaric," she murmured quietly, pressing her cheek against Kai's collarbone and neck for the warmth of him.
"Since when did you start killing for him?"
Turning her head just enough to look at her furious husband, she gave him her best sleepy, irritable glare.
"Your brother is manipulative, Epharis. He was bound to find something to threaten me with eventually."
"What could he possibly have threatened you with? You're death!"
Kai made a hushing sound and she growled gently, not wanting to fight with him. She just wanted to sleep there in Kai's arms.
"You're a smart man, you'll figure it out," she breathed and her next inhale brought the spicy scent of angry vampire to her senses, lulling her closer to sleep.
There was a pause and then Epharis seemed to explode.
"You would give up your freedom for vampires?" he yelled. "They're vampires, Etani!"
He seemed to have forgotten there were three of them in the room and the silence was enough to hear a pin drop.
"I will ask you to leave only once, Epharis," Versalis said in a low, warning voice.
"Give her to me, you are clearly incapable of taking care of her," Epharis snarled in response and Kai's warmth was stripped from her as the hard chest of Epharis met her side and she whimpered at the cold.
"You can't even stop her from draining herself to keep you all sane, you ungrateful little boys. You have one task, to keep her safe and you fail at even that."
"That's hardly fair, she's an assassin and vanishes like smoke when she wants to. How are we expected to keep her safe all the time? Do what you do and just leash her?" Jaia had stood, his face dark with his anger.
"At least putting a leash on her has kept her alive."
"And how is that working out for you? You failed at turning her into a lich, you failed at keeping her from Drizdan, you failed at keeping her out of the hands of Winter. You failed at keeping your brother off her. You failed at keeping Versalis from her, or Daemon, or Harla."
"Who is Daemon?" Epharis demanded and the three vampires exchanged a wary look as they realised they had revealed information she might not have wanted to share.
"A demon, the one from the field," Jaia said resentfully.
"What has he got to do with anything? He's back where he belongs," Epharis snapped.
"He is after Etani."
"Isn't everyone after her? Why does he matter?"
"You'll have to ask her," Kai piped in, throwing his brother a warning look.
"Keeping secrets too? You lot and she keep more secrets than you have combined hairs."
Shifting his weight to get a better grip on her barely conscious form in his arms.
"Be nice…" she mumbled, but no one was listening to her.
"I cannot be held responsible for the latest creature in this world who wants to get his hands on her."
"She's your wife! It's your job to protect her!" Jaia yelled, his cheeks flushed in his anger.
Epharis stiffened but he had no defence. It wasn't wrong and they all knew it. He had failed at keeping her safe.
"Now look at her, bleeding herself out because your brother is obsessed with using her as a weapon," Versalis said gently.
"Why do you need so much?" Epharis demanded, eyeing the packs.
"We don't know, she just kept going and we stopped her just as you came in. She was talking to Letari before she started drawing," Kai said gently, trying to diffuse the situation.
"Talking about what?" Epharis asked.
"A yellow frog in a rainforest. Aconite and cyanide, injection sites. She didn't realise she was speaking aloud."
"Odd, she's never done that before. Letari has been dormant for quite some time," Epharis looked down at her, her eyes almost closed but she was still clinging to consciousness.
"Letari apparently doesn't like any of us very much so she likes to stay back and watch the fun," Jaia said and Epharis turned to him.
"She told you that?" he demanded and the three nodded. "Why would she tell you that and not me?"
"It might be because we're her friends and you're the man who forced her into marriage and turned her into a lich. Did you not see her reaction to you on the field?" Versalis said dryly, curious about their reaction.
"No, what happened?"
"She was desperate to get to you when you started calling, and her eyes began to glow green like all the other dead,"
Epharis looked to the twins for confirmation and they nodded their agreement.
"I have control over her?" he asked warily, earning a worried look from the vampires. No one wanted Epharis to have more control over her.
"It seems so, at least in the moment when you were so close," Versalis finally said
Epharis let out a low sigh and ducked his head to see her face, her eyes barely slitted.
"Hi," she breathed and he growled softly at her incapacitated state.
"You could have stopped her earlier, what if there is an emergency? You are never to allow her to take so much again," Epharis was getting angry again, his tone icy.
"I can give her some blood to help replenish" Jaia said but Epharis stepped back, his arms tightening around her.
"I think you three have done enough. I'll take it from here. As you said, she's my wife and my responsibility," he threw their words back in their faces and he turned, stalking towards the door.
"Let us at least help," Kai cried and her eyes opened wider at his distress, turning slightly and pressing at Epharis to get him to stop.
"Kai..." she breathed, a dull ache starting behind her eyes as she strained to see him. She could feel his distress at a distance, a part of her immediately wanting to go to him and comfort him.
"Everything will be fine, Etani," Epharis said but she was squirming weakly, her hand outstretched for him.
Warm fingers found her hand and he kissed her palm gently, her eyes finding his over Epharis' shoulder.
"You're okay?" she whispered, her nails digging into the lich's collarbone as she strained to lift herself up enough to see the vampire. Her panic at his sorrow faded slightly at his nearness.
"I will be," he said gently. She frowned, her fingers tracing his cheek in a bare hint of a brush.
"Don't be sad, I'm here," she rested her cheek against the shoulder under her and she smiled sleepily at the sight of him.
He seemed concerned for her and she saw Jaia and Versalis looking at each other in confusion.
"I'm going to go sleep now, but I'll just be upstairs. Come see me if you need."
His slow nod had her tension melt and the adrenaline made her fingers tremble in his hand.
"I love you Kai," she breathed. "Puer Meus."
Sliding back down into Epharis' arms, she had exhausted herself entirely and shivered as the chill of blood loss set in.
"Don't come see her, little vampire. Use your blood and stay away until she is back," Epharis ordered and while she felt Kai's pain, she had no energy left to reach him.
Epharis was fuming and her head bumped gently against his chest as he started towards the door, and then it slumping back on her neck as she passed out in his arms.